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Grim confessions of a UC case manager

A Universal Credit (UC) case manager has confessed to the Independent that DWP staff “cruelly close claims” of “tens of thousands of very vulnerable people” and that threats of suicide are a “frequent occurrence”.

The case manager, using a pseudonym, said that lack knowledge about UC regulations by DWP staff “can have an especially devastating impact on care leavers, the disabled and those with mental; health conditions”. He explained that it is often left to charities and support workers to explain the regulations to DWP case managers.

Amongst the allegations made by the claims manager:

Full-time case managers on average handle in the region of 300 claims each. As a result of the overwhelming caseload, many crucial tasks are not completed “until claimants contact us when their payments are inevitably paid incorrectly or not at all”.

If a case manager goes on holiday, their claimants are “completely neglected” as staff are told only to send out payments for people they manage themselves.

DWP staff are told that “claimants are entirely responsible for their own claim”. So the system only alerts staff after a deadline has been missed “allowing us to cruelly close claims and stop that person receiving any money. Tens of thousands of very vulnerable people have their lifeline switched off with a click.”

Claimants who state that they are facing eviction are “a penny a dozen. We are told that legal proceedings can take months so a claimant is ‘never really facing eviction’. That’s how we’re told to justify it.”

Staff are well-trained to deal with threats of suicide “simply because it’s such a frequent occurrence”.